The Day Before
by Gemfist
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is merely counting down the days to his coronation as Rokudaime. But first he has a promise to keep.


**The Day Before**

**A Naruto Fanfiction by Gemfist**

Uzumaki Naruto was crouched upon a rooftop, facing the distant compound of the Hyuuga, and the setting sun. There was a slight gust of wind and a rustle of leaves as a masked figure appeared next to him. "Is it done, Naruto?"

"Hai, phase one is complete, operation is a go," Naruto's face narrowed in thoughtful contemplation. "This is gonna work, this has to work."

"Naruto you know, just as well as I do that this is incredibly risky, if this goes wrong—"

The blonde teen cut him off abruptly. "I know! This is my plan to begin with, I made a promise, and I intend to keep it."

"Naruto your coronation is tomorrow, you need to play it as carefully as possible."

The sensei-student pair sat quietly after that proclamation, lying in wait for their target. A few minutes later, Hyuuga Hiashi was walking down the road, towards his home. Naruto tensed and Kakashi put a calming hand on his shoulder. When the clan head was directly beneath them the pair dashed into action. Naruto dropped right in front of the Hyuuga patriarch with no pretense of stealth, and went for a straight punch to the head.

Reacting immediately, Hiashi swayed to the side, avoiding the blow. He made to activate his dojutsu, but before he could, he felt a figure land behind him, and a pain in his neck, then nothing.

Naruto caught the man as he slumped forward and with a slight flexing of his chakra two shadow clones were summoned into existence. The clones hefted the man up, and made for the rooftops, the clones misjudged the effect of the excess weight slightly and hit the wall, sticking to it with chakra, as well as jostling their cargo.

"Careful you idiots!" Naruto whispered harshly.

"Hai, sorry boss!"

Turning again to Kakashi, Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hehe."

Kakashi shook his head in an exasperated manner. "Only you Naruto, come on we'd better get moving."

Naruto's eyes gained a colder glint as he nodded. The pair once more took to the rooftops, this time towards the Hyuuga compound. They arrived a few minutes later to find the compound utterly empty, save themselves, and the two clones with their charge.

Kakashi looked around in slight awe. "You actually managed it."

"Of course I did!" Naruto exclaimed, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage!"

The pair fell into a comfortable silence again at the familiar phrase. Naruto pulled out a packet of papers with pictures on them, and began studying them. The copy-nin likewise began to prepare himself, spreading his chakra through the compound. They both set to work, each performing their part of the task as swiftly and efficiently as possible.

Hyuuga Hiashi came to an unknown amount of time later. He immediately made to stand, only to find himself restrained in a room. He looked up and found himself staring into a pair of azure orbs framed by blonde locks. "What is the meaning of this?" Hiashi asked calmly, Hyuuga countenance visible even now. Inwardly he was seething at being caught unaware by this orange eyesore.

"Hyuuga-teme, I made a request of you a few months ago, you did not listen then, you will listen now."

There was an underlying threat there that Hiashi barely recognized through the layers of the blondes cheerful demeanor. "And if I refuse?"

The blondes eyes narrowed and his hands came up in his signature sign, and with a puff of obscuring smoke, two kage bunshin were formed. One on either side of Hiashi's seat. Each clone grabbed an armrest and lifted the chair up, and with it him. The door to the room was kicked open and Hiashi was carried outside.

Upon his exit, the clan head paled visibly. Scores of Hyuuga, all visibly main house members, were being restrained by ANBU. Each with a gleaming silver tanto to their throat.

"I'll say it again Hiashi Hyuuga," began Naruto from his position behind the chair, "you will remove the Caged Bird seal from the Branch house, abolish the practice completely, and in addition you will cede the clan leadership to your daughter."

"Hiashi-sama, help us!" One of the Hyuuga cried out, he identified her as Hikaro, a career chuunin. Upon her exclamation the ANBU behind her withdrew his tanto and bashed the hilt against her head, knocking her unconscious.

Hiashi struggled against his restraints in vain. "This is an outrage!" then eyeing the ANBU he stated: "Hokage-sama would never sanction this, the Hyuuga affairs are our own!"

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime elect, the Hokage has ceded several responsibilities to me in preparation for my succession. I hold command of the ANBU. They answer my call, they follow my orders, and they do not question."

Hiashi eyed the boy, it was known that he was the next hokage, but that he held this much power already, without any political maneuvering was staggering. No this boy was not to be underestimated any longer. He would merely feign agreement until he could wrest control back.

"What would you have me do, Uzumaki-san?"

With that exclamation Naruto unsealed a paper and held it in front of Hiashi's face, "you just have to sign this."

Hiashi scanned the document quickly then narrowed his eyes in anger. "I refuse." The paper was a legally binding contract that would sell the knowledge of the Caged Bird seal to the village as well as dissolve the Hyuuga branch house and elder council, as well as make him retire as a shinobi, thereby stepping down as clan head.

"I see." Naruto's face became steel, and he made a hand signal, then stepped back. Two Hyuugas were brought forward in front of Hiashi's seat. "Do it."

Immediately both Hyuuga's throats were slit, ear to ear, and they were dropped at Hiashi's feet. Blood and viscera sprayed Hiashi as he gaped in shock, which quickly turned into furious raging as his struggles resumed. All around the courtyard the Hyuuga were struggling ineffectually, screaming their sorrows and anger. "You monster! Beast! They should have ended you with the Yondaime!"

Naruto's face, completely blank, appeared in Hiashi's sight once more. "Allow me to be clear, Hyuuga Hiashi, you will sign this document, or I will enact my secondary plan and merely kill all the main house members, so that the cursed seal of the branch may never be used again."

Hiashi sat back in his chair, slumped in defeat. "Very well boy, but know this you have made an enemy of me today, and with the murder of two of our number, the Hyuuga will never support you."

"Sign the paper, old man." A clone handed Naruto a pen which he in turn handed to Hiashi.

Upon his signature, three new hooded figures flickered in. Throwing back their hoods they were revealed as Higurashi Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata, and Hyuuga Neji. Hinata eyed her father with a cold indifference as he looked up to meet her sight. "I hope that you are pleased daughter," Hiashi stated bitterly, "your ambitions have resulted in the death of your cousins."

A pair of jonin appeared next to the group. Yuhi Kurenai and Hatake Kakashi looked at the defeated, now former, clan head. "They're not really dead, though it was a rather good Genjutsu we wove, wasn't it?"

Hiashi looked at his dead clan-mates in confusion, only to find no blood upon them. They began to rise from their position prone on the ground and all around the courtyard the ANBU were releasing their captives, all of whom marched over to Hiashi. One by one each ANBU agent and clansman was revealed to be a shadow clone, before in turn dispelling.

When the clones were all gone, Naruto released the restraints, and pulled Hiashi up out of the chair by his shirt, he held him there, at an arms length away. "I am everywhere, I am every one, I am Uzumaki Naruto and I am legion."

He was dropped to the ground a moment later were he sat in disbelief of being so utterly outmaneuvered, before fainting in shock, in an odd facsimile of his daughter.

Neji turned to face Naruto, white eyes gleaming suspiciously with wetness. "Naruto, you made me a promise six years ago, and I doubted you at the time, believing you to be nothing but a fool," at this Neji reached up and removed his forehead protector, revealing the sickly green of the Caged Bird seal, "but now I kneel before you, and ask you to fulfill that promise."

With Neji's forehead protector off and from his position kneeling in front of Naruto, he saw as the man that would become Hokage began to go through a long series of hand seals that ended on the bird seal. His hand, practically alight with chakra, was placed onto Neji's head, palm resting against his forehead.

When he removed it a moment later, Tenten stepped forward and pulled Neji to his feet, shakily she wiped away at his forehead with a cloth, removing the ink, as well as the last vestiges of his enslavement. Upon seeing his unmarred forehead, she jumped at him, catching him by surprise and knocking him over, then she kissed him deeply, with everyone looking on in wonder.

Naruto grinned widely at a job well done before digging into his pocket and pulling out a radio. Holding down the talk button, he spoke "Hey guys, you can bring 'em out now!"

All around the compound ninja emerged each with varying amounts of Hyuuga in tow. Haruno Sakura led all the Hyuuga children, including Hyuuga Hanabi, to the large courtyard. "Well it's about damn time!"

Next was Kiba who had two bruised main house Hyuuga across his shoulders, and Akamaru who had nearly a dozen unconscious on his back. "Geez Naruto, you could've been a bit quicker with it, I mean I had to knock these guys out like three times!"

Shino appeared in a cloud of bugs next to Kiba. "Actually, I was the one who drained most of them of their chakra and incapacitated them, you were merely support."

"Hey, I did—"

"Will you keep it down, I've got a killer headache," Sai stated in his odd cheerful tone. Following Sai was several of the Hyuuga branch members, flanked on either side by ink constructs in the form of lions.

There was a muffled groan and a thump and everyone looked to see an elderly Hyuuga gagged and trussed up, thrown to the floor. Behind him was Uchiha Sasuke, who had another two similarly restrained in each arm. A small smirk on his face let everyone know that he had enjoyed proving the superiority of the Sharingan over the Byakugan. "Someone please inform the elders of their loss of power, and their demotion to purely old and decrepit."

Finally, there was a whoosh of wind and a great kicking up of dust as the final two arrived with their share of the Hyuuga. "Yosh! Gai-sensei, I will carry five Hyuuga in each arm and do three laps of Fire Country!"

"Lee! Your youthfulness is truly commendable but sadly it seems as if we must release our Hyuuga friends as the mission is complete!"

"Hai, Gai-sensei."

Lee dumped his ten Hyuuga onto the ground unceremoniously. Gai did the same with his Hyuuga for a total of twenty-five Hyuuga unconscious on the ground, curiously each and everyone had a look of utter horror and some appeared to have sunburns.

The entirety of the clan deposited in front of Naruto, he signaled for Sakura to wake the unconscious. Sakura's hands glowed green as she went from clan member to member waking each with a touch. With all the members of the clan awake and alert. Naruto began to address them: "Hyuuga! On this day there has been an intervention, no more shall there be, a branch and a main house. You are now united as one, one clan, one family, those of you with a cursed seal will be released from your enslavement never to be bound again."

Naruto made a handseal and then there were dozens of clones each going through the same handsigns that Naruto had gone through minutes prior. Finally, arms alight with chakra, the clones stepped forward each finding a target.

There was silence for a moment and then Neji, with his hair frazzled and his lips slightly bruised, fell to his knees once more, hand over his heart. "Long live the Rokudaime!"

"Long live the Rokudaime!" Chorused the Hyuuga.

"Long live Naruto-sama, savior of the branch, friend of the Hyuuga!"

Naruto's grin split his face in two, he rubbed his head as he looked at the rising sun in the distance, today he became Hokage, today he fulfilled his dreams and promises.

Sasuke and Sakura stood to his right, looking out at the masses of Hyuuga, praising his name. "Well, dobe, you did it, you actually did it." Sasuke glanced at Naruto in wonder, wondering if there had been a man like him in the Hokage seat before Danzo's ultimatum to Itachi, then perhaps his clan could have been saved.

Sasuke shook his head to further the thought train he was traveling down, putting a hand on Sakura's waist he pulled her closer into a hug. Slightly surprised but delighted Sakura hugged him back, and if there were a few wet spots on her shoulder that weren't there before, nobody was going to say anything.

The Godaime herself appeared in full Hokage apparel, seconds later.

"Baa-chan, I can ex—"

She stepped towards Naruto cutting him off, and looked him dead in the eyes, Naruto looked back at her, her eyes softened and she smiled at him. "I've been watching everything, brat," She showed him the crystal ball in her hands. "Sensei would've been proud to see the man you grew into, and that old pervert, well I'm sure he's with sensei right now, bragging about training two Hokages."

She gained a wistful look in her eyes and she eyed the gathered masses behind her. Naruto's speech to the Hyuuga had garnered the attention of the populace, a great amount of Konohan citizens and shinobi alike were now gathered at the entrance and on the walls of the compound.

"You're finally ready Naruto," then looking at the people gathered around him she gestured them towards the crowd, all his friends and comrades went to stand in the front row onlooking the stand he'd made his speech from.

"Do you, Uzumaki Naruto, swear to uphold the virtues of the office of Hokage?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to be fair and reasonable?"

"I do."

"Lastly, do you, Uzumaki Naruto, swear to abide by the laws of Konoha and to become the embodiment of the Land of Fire itself?"

"I do."

"Then, by the favor of the Sandaime, the legacy of the Yondaime, and my power as the Godaime, I name you, Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage!"

Cheers broke out around the crowd waking any in Konoha that had not gathered there. Senju Tsunade took off the Hokage hat for the final time and set it upon Naruto's head.

Hours later, at around noontime Hiashi Hyuuga awoke with an awful pounding in his head, at his bedside was Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata. Both of whom were looking at him.

"Hey, you're awake!" Naruto exclaimed, "I forgot to tell you earlier but Hinata-chan and I are getting married!"

Hiashi turned to his daughter who giggled slightly and proceeded to pass out again.

The End


End file.
